New Zealand Endure Frustrating Start To The World Championships

Lauren Bruce missed out by an agonising 1cm from a place in the women’s hammer final and Hamish Kerr narrowly missed a slot in the men’s high jump final on a frustrating morning session for the New Zealand team on day one of the 2022 World Athletics Championships at Eugene, Oregon.

Kick-starting the Kiwi challenge on a sun-drenched morning at Hayward Field, Hamish finished 14th in qualification as 13 men advanced to Tuesday’s final - with a best of 2.25m not quite good enough for the New Zealand high jump record-holder to advance to the medal round.

The Christchurch-based athlete breezed clear at his opening height of 2.17m before experiencing what ultimately would prove a costly first-time failure at 2.21m. Hamish, competing in trademark sunglasses, responded positively by soaring beyond 2.21m with his second attempt and the 25-year-old looked to be finding his groove with a comfortable clearance at 2.25m with his first effort.

However, he could not quite find his rhythm at 2.28m and the World Indoor bronze medallist missed out on a height, which would have delivered safe passage for the final.

Eleven men progressed to the final courtesy of clearing 2.28m – these included Olympic gold medallists Mutaz Barshim of Qatar and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi as well as World Indoor champion Sanghyeok Woo of South Korea. A further two men qualified for the final; Edgar Rivera of Mexico and Mateusz Przybylko of Germany by virtue of having also cleared 2.25m.

Kerr has an identical record to Rivera and Przybylko at both 2.25m and 2.28m but the Kiwi missed out because the Mexican and German successfully cleared 2.21m at the first time of asking.

“It was a tough day, although I am really proud with how I battled,” said Hamish. “I had some good jumps, some good heights and some good clearances but ultimately it wasn’t at the right heights, but that’s what you get in sport, and it definitely hurts. But onwards and upwards we have Comm Games coming up and I have to concentrate on that now.”

Further reflecting on his day, he added: “I had a great clearance at 2.25m and I think it almost surprised me a little because things haven’t been going amazingly in training, so to get a jump like that I was stoked and, if anything, I was guilty of taking my eye off the ball a little bit. I went into 2.28m and I had a lot of confidence but at the same time I thought my 2.25m was going to be enough and evidently it wasn’t.”

For the first time in a field event in World Championship history, New Zealand proudly boasted a full complement of three athletes in the women’s hammer.

Lauren Bruce was the pick of the Kiwi trio, but she missed out on a place in the women’s hammer final by a gut-wrenching margin of 1cm despite producing a best hurl of 70.86m.

The Oceania record-holder opened with a nervy first round foul before unleashing a solid 68.92m in round two. Maintaining impressive composure, the Timaru-raised athlete saved her best until last but ultimately it was not quite good enough to earn safe passage for the final.

Lauren placed seventh in qualification group A and then had the painful wait to see if she had done enough to advance. Unfortunately, following the third round of group B she was just dislodged from a top 12 position. Swede Grete Ahlberg registered 70.87m to secure the 12th and final spot.

“I had a lot of fun out there in stark contrast with Tokyo,” said Lauren, who threw a best of 67.71m at last year’s Olympics Games.

“I would have liked it have thrown further, but it is the first time I’ve come out and performed at a major before. I’m happy with what I did and how I owned the competition out there.”

Also performing in qualification group A, Oceania champion Nicole Bradley finished 30th overall with a best of 62.88m. The 30-year-old Auckland-based thrower on her global international debut opened with a foul before following up with her only valid throw of the day. Nicole, who boasts a PB of 70.45m set at the New Zealand Track & Field Championships in March, climaxed her competition with a red flag.

“I’m not disappointed because I was competing on the world stage and I’m proud to be here. There was a lot of noise in the stadium and a lot of cameras which was hard for me. But I’m really looking forward to now competing in the Commonwealth Games where my family will be watching.”

Commonwealth Games champion Julia Ratcliffe also succumbed in the qualification as she produced a best effort for the day of 69.96m to place 16th overall.

The Hamilton-based athlete fired the hammer out to 64.53m in round one followed by a red flag in round two. She retained her composure in the final round to hurl the metal ball out to a much improved 69.96m but ultimately it was not quite good enough to book a spot in the final.

“Obviously I’m disappointed, I’m in really good shape and it was disappointing to not get one out there,” said Julia who featured in qualification group B. “The first throw went way too hard on the first turn. The second one I slowed it down a bit at the start but was too fast at the end and third one manged it to put it together was probably a bit tentative.

‘I knew I had it in me I was lacking the rhythm today. Onwards and upwards, the Commonwealth Games is just around the corner which gives me a bit of hope.”

American Janee’ Kassanavoid of the US headed the qualifiers for Monday’s women’s hammer final with a best of 74.46m.

Results here

A further six Kiwis are in action on Saturday 16 July:

12.05 Maddi Wesche – Women’s SP qualification

12.20 Olivia McTaggart and Imogen Ayris – Women’s pole vault qualification

1.55pm – Jacko Gill and Tom Walsh – Men’s shot put qualification

2.32pm – Eddie Osei-Nketia – Men’s 100m First Round

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